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California just passed the country's first set of state-level reparations laws. At the same time, other related policies, like compensating people who lost property through eminent domain, died or were vetoed in the California State House. CapRadio's Megan Myscofski in Sacramento reports lawmakers are hoping that voters will keep this effort alive this week when they decide on whether or not to keep forced labor in state prisons.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting) All of us.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Or none.
MEGAN MYSCOFSKI, BYLINE: On a recent morning in Sacramento, several advocacy groups are rallying to change the California constitution. Carmen-Nicole Cox with the ACLU California Action speaks to the crowd.
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CARMEN-NICOLE COX: Slavery is inconsistent with California values.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: That's right.
COX: And even still, slavery is alive and well in detention and penal facilities across our great state.
MYSCOFSKI: This campaign is for Prop. 6, a ballot measure to end forced labor in state prisons. Tens of thousands of prisoners in California have jobs, usually cooking or cleaning, that pay under $1 per hour. This is the last big push this year to get reparations for descendants of enslaved people on the books, in this case, by addressing one legacy of slavery in the state. Five bills from the reparations package were signed into law, including measures that call for the state to make an official apology for slavery and curb discrimination of natural hair styles in sports. Most of the reparations bills that lawmakers wrote this year didn't make it. Cox says that's disappointing.
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COX: We absolutely vote people in because we believe that they are going to advance certain policy. And then when they show us that they won't, we get to vote again.
MYSCOFSKI: Observers say that the setbacks showed getting the most impactful policies through is going to take a while. Legislators didn't even consider direct cash payments this year. Aria Florant is the cofounder of Liberation Ventures, which tracks the progress of dozens of reparations efforts across the nation.
ARIA FLORANT: Every movement doesn't always move in a linear fashion, right?
MYSCOFSKI: She was hoping to see California set a high precedent and says not getting all the bills approved was disappointing, but it's a start. Her organization partnered with researchers at Princeton University on a poll gauging support for reparations in the U.S. Most Americans still don't support them, and only 11% think direct cash payments will ever happen. Governor Gavin Newsom is a proponent of the idea of reparations. He still vetoed some of the bills, saying they weren't ready or too costly. Others died in the legislature. Senator Steven Bradford from the greater Los Angeles area is a member of the California Black Legislative Caucus. He authored some of the bills that didn't make it. One addressed race-based use of eminent domain, and another would have created a department to implement the new laws. He says the effort should have had more teeth.
STEVEN BRADFORD: We had great momentum until the last week of session and for the real substantive stuff to really help stand up reparations.
MYSCOFSKI: California's budget includes $12 million for undefined reparations work this year. He admits that's not much, but he counts that money as a win. Assembly member Corey Jackson is also a member of the caucus, and he says a lot of people aren't even on the same page about what reparations should look like.
COREY JACKSON: You even look at your own family, right? And you try to make a decision. Everybody ain't going to agree.
MYSCOFSKI: He says his priority was to teach people about the model of reparations the caucus is looking to, which eventually includes cash payments but starts with acknowledgment and an apology. This Tuesday, California voters will decide if that also means ending forced labor in prisons. For NPR News, I'm Megan Myscofski in Sacramento.
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